Analysis Of Erikson's Psychosocial Stages

People may say, “Life is like a cycle”, but what many of us do not know is that life has eight stages that every individual goes through. These eight stages begin after birth and continue into childhood, then adulthood, and lastly ends at the old age. These eight stages are known as the psychosocial stages. And no matter who you are and what you do, I believe that everyone will go through stages in their life. Erik Erikson was a famous psychologist in the twentieth – century, where he developed psychosocial stages. Erikson’s theories centered on issues that were met on specific ages in someone’s life. Love, care, and tender is critical and many parents do not realize how much nurturing for a child is very important. Erik Erikson’s developmental

Guilt, is during the preschool years, where the children begin to manage over the world through direct social interactions. The children who are successful throughout this stage feel efficient and are able to lead others. The ones who fail in this stage, their skills are left with guilt and self- doubt, according to Erikson’s theory. The fourth stage of Erikson’s theory, Industry vs. Inferiority, covers the age of five years old to eleven years old, which is the early school years of elementary school. Children who receive support from their teachers or parents, develop a feeling of confidence in their skills. The children who receive less encouragement from parents and teachers have a lack of “self- confidence,” and begin to have affections of a failure. The fifth stage of Erikson’s theory, Identity vs. Confusion, is during adolescence, where he or she develops their independence. The children who receive the proper “reinforcement” through family, “will emerge from this stage with a strong sense of self as a person and intellectual skills” as mentioned in the textbook of, “Psychology Core Concepts”. Those who neglect, have an unclear sense of self and might be confused about themselves and his or her

Each stage in Erikson’s theory is concerned with becoming competent in an area of life. Giving a short brief of each of Erikson’s eight theories, “if all stages are handled well, the person will feel a sense of mastery, which is sometimes referred as to ego strength or ego quality”, as it mentions on the online article of, “Psychology Today. “If people successfully deal with the conflict, they emerge from the stage with the psychological strengths that will serve them well for the rest of their life”, says the author of the online article, “Psychology About”. In conclusion of Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development, life is a series of challenges and lessons that helps each individual grow. These eight stages of Erikson’s theories are fundamentally important because Erikson’s stages are influenced after birth, but more importantly during the childhood and adulthood. The eight stages firmly focus on the analysis of behavior and personality of an